Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry National Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Autry Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry National Center
as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.

Access

Collection is open for research. Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit http://theautry.org/research/research-rules-and-application
or contact library staff at rroom@theautry.org. An item-level list is available

Historical note

Inyo County is a county on the east side of the Sierra Nevada and southeast of Yosemite National Park in the eastern-central
part of the U.S. state of California. Inyo County includes the Owens River Valley; it is flanked to the west by the Sierra
Mountains, and to the east by the White Mountains and the Inyo Mountains. Present day Inyo county has been the historic homeland
for thousands of years, of the Mono tribe, Coso people, Timbisha and Kawaiisu Native Americans. Inyo County was formed in
1866 from the territory of the unorganized Coso County created on April 4, 1864 from parts of Mono and Tulare Counties. It
acquired more territory from Mono County in 1870 and Kern County and San Bernardino County in 1872.

In order to provide water needs for the growing City of Los Angeles, water was diverted from the Owens River into the Los
Angeles Aqueduct in 1913. The Owens River Valley cultures and environments changed substantially. From the 1910s to 1930s,
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power purchased much of the valley for water rights and control. In 1941, the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power extended the Los Angeles Aqueduct system further upriver into the Mono Basin.